There was no retreat.
Monica gripped her staff, staring at the two seas of blood-red eyes in front and behind.
Those eyes bobbed in the darkness, drawing closer and closer as a tide of squealing shrieks surged toward them.
"Leader!"
Ada roared, swinging his sword to strike down two magical rats that leaped at him.
But even more had already swarmed to his feet.
Old Tom raised his shield in front, which was instantly covered in magical rats.
The creatures' claws scraped against the iron shield, producing a piercing grating sound.
His legs were shaking, and blood ran down his trousers, yet he didn't dare step back an inch.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
Monica shouted, raising her staff at the same time.
But her incantation had barely begun when a magical rat leaped right in front of her.
Instinctively turning sideways, she felt the creature fly past her cheek.
Its claws left a bloody gouge across her cheekbone.
Monica gasped, her spell interrupted.
Frantically, she pulled a dagger from her waist and stabbed it into another magical rat lunging at her.
Warm blood splattered across her hand, sickeningly foul.
She had no time to be disgusted, as even more magical rats were already surging forward.
This was the fatal weakness of a mage in close combat.
Without protection from teammates, she didn't even have time to chant.
Every time she tried to cast a spell, a magical rat would leap at her, forcing her to swing her dagger to defend herself.
Her dagger swings were wild and unstructured, nearly missing several times.
The claws of those magical rats raked bloody cuts across her calves, making her hiss in pain.
"Over there! The junction!"
Old Tom roared, slamming several magical rats away with his shield and pointing toward a side passage to the left.
It was their only way out.
Monica gritted her teeth, slashing with her dagger as she moved in that direction.
Ada charged in front, hacking and slashing to forcibly tear a path through the swarm.
Old Tom brought up the rear, using his shield and body to block the swarming magical rats behind them.
Sandwiched in the middle, Lily ran while crying, having long since run out of arrows.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
Three meters.
The junction was right in front of them.
Then, Monica saw it.
Magical rats were surging out from the other side of the junction as well.
It was the very tunnel they had just blocked.
The magical rats had gone around both sides of the stone wall.
"Damn it!"
Ada cursed, coming to a sudden halt.
Front, back, left, right—magical rats were everywhere.
They were completely trapped inside this short section of pipe less than ten meters long.
Monica looked at those blood-red eyes.
She looked at the dense, swarming black rat horde.
She looked at her teammates, covered in blood and gasping for breath.
Her mind suddenly went completely blank.
Damn it, she knew this commission was beyond her capabilities.
But how had they fallen into a desperate situation so soon after entering?
Ada was still swinging his sword desperately, but his movements were growing slower and slower, the wounds on his body constantly multiplying.
Meanwhile, Old Tom could no longer raise his shield. He used his body to shield Lily, letting the magical rats leap onto him.
Lily crouched in a corner, clutching her head and screaming.
Monica gripped her dagger, her fingers trembling.
Just as she was about to fight to the death.
A sharp sound of tearing air suddenly resounded from behind them.
Swoosh—
A transparent wind blade shot out from the darkness.
The wind blade moved at an astonishing speed.
Brushing past Monica's ear, it struck with precision right into the magical rat about to leap at her.
The magical rat was sliced down the middle, split into two halves that crashed onto the ground.
Monica froze.
Wind Blade?
Mid Rank magic?
She whipped her head around.
Then, she saw it.
The dark sewer behind them was illuminated by wave after wave of wind blades.
Those wind blades were translucent, glowing with a faint teal light in the dark.
One, two, three.
Ten, twenty, fifty.
Densely packed, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.
In an instant, they flew past them.
Shooting out from a single direction, they were like a reverse-raging storm.
Wherever the wind blades passed, magical rats fell in swathes.
Sliced in two, decapitated, or severed at the waist.
Black rat blood splattered across the walls, the ground, and the top of the pipe.
The squealing shrieks instantly turned into desperate screams of agony.
In merely the blink of an eye.
The entire tide of rats surging from the junction was completely wiped out.
Inside the pipe, nothing remained but corpses of magical rats littering the ground.
The stench of blood was thick enough to induce nausea.
Monica stood there dazed, staring at the sight before her.
No...
This wasn't the Mid Rank spell, Wind Blade.
It was the High Rank wind spell—Blade Storm.
A single High Rank spell had easily resolved the rat tide that had driven her into a desperate situation.
A complex mix of emotions surged in Monica's heart.
No wonder the requirement for this advancement commission was a Silver Rank adventure group.
And a Silver Rank adventure group required at least one High Rank member.
A single High Rank spell solved all the problems.
It was just that simple.
It was just that cruel.
Ada collapsed heavily onto the ground, gasping for breath.
Old Tom leaned against the wall with his shield tossed aside, looking down to inspect the wounds on his body.
Lily was still crying, though she was no longer screaming like before.
Monica gripped her staff, looked at the corpses of magical rats littering the ground, and slowly turned her head.
Out of the darkness, a figure slowly walked into view.
It was a man.
Black hair, black eyes, and a complexion frightfully pale.
He leaned on an oak staff, his entire body almost hanging onto it.
His left arm was twisted at a bizarre angle, and his mage robes were tattered, revealing skin covered in bruises and scrapes.
He walked very slowly with a limp, every step appearing to be an endurance of immense pain.
Yet he still came forward.
He walked right in front of Monica and stopped.
He lifted his head and glanced at her.
Those eyes were very calm, as tranquil as a pool of stagnant water.
Then he spoke, his voice faint and carrying a trace of weakness:
"Are you all right?"
Monica froze.
She stared at the man before her.
He had saved them.
Saved her and her teammates.
If not for him, they might already be dead here.
Reason dictated she should thank him.
But Monica knew she couldn't.
She slowly turned her head and looked back at the water channel.
A thick layer of magical rat corpses covered the ground.
Those black corpses were piled together, blood flowing along the ground into the standing water, staining the entire channel red.
In quantity, there were at least over a hundred.
It had already exceeded the number required by the commission.
Monica's fingers tightened slightly around her staff.
Suppressing her conscience, she spoke first:
"This is our commission."
Her voice was cold.
"By doing this, you are violating the Adventurer's Guild regulations."
Ada, behind her, froze.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But Old Tom grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.
Old Tom looked at Monica's back and sighed.
He also spoke up:
"Mage Lord, our commission hasn't been completed yet."
"Interfering like this makes things difficult for us."
Monica didn't turn around.
She knew Old Tom was helping her.
She also knew what she was doing.
This commission was their only chance to advance to Silver Rank.
Now that most of the guild's powerful adventurers had left because of the Dark Tide, this was the only advancement commission remaining.
If they couldn't complete this one, who knew how long they would have to wait for the next?
She couldn't afford to wait.
She had to reach the City of a Thousand Towers before March.
So, this was her only choice.
Even if the other person had just saved their lives.
Lin Gui looked at the young mage before him.
He looked at her tense face and her evasive eyes.
He didn't say anything.
He simply leaned on his staff, limping forward two steps.
Then he spoke, his voice remaining just as calm:
"I didn't come to steal your commission. I'm looking for a mage named Monica."
"I want her to help treat my injuries."
Monica froze.
Looking for her?
Treatment?
Lin Gui raised a hand and tugged at his tattered mage robes.
Revealing his twisted left arm beneath, his bruise-covered skin, and those wounds that were still oozing blood.
"I was severely injured in the wilderness and need magical treatment."
"The Priests of Dragonbone City have all left."
"I heard there's a mage named Monica who can cast beyond her rank and use a Recovery spell."
"So I came looking for her."
He paused, looking at Monica.
"Can you do it?"
Although she hadn't introduced herself, her young face, her Mid Rank strength, and the staff in her hand set with a magic crystal all told Lin Gui—
She was Dragonbone City's magical genius, Monica.
Upon hearing Lin Gui's request, Monica's eyes suddenly lit up.
She nodded hastily:
"I can! I can!"
Then she looked at the magical rat corpses covering the ground, and back at Lin Gui.
"I can treat you."
"But could you..."
She paused, finding it somewhat difficult to speak:
"Could you let us use these magical rats to complete our turn-in?"
"I hope you won't expose us."
Lin Gui glanced at her.
Then he nodded.
"Sure."
He hadn't come to steal commissions in the first place.
Stealing commissions was something only Apprentice or Low Rank adventurers would do.
After all, as long as you could haul a hoe and had physical strength,
and were willing to spend a silver coin at the Adventurer's Guild to get a copper badge,
then you became an Apprentice adventurer of the Adventurer's Guild and could accept commissions.
This led to a huge, overflowing number of Low Rank and Apprentice adventurers.
As a result, rookie adventurers outnumbered commissions, leading to instances of commission theft.
The clients issuing commissions didn't care who accepted the commission first.
They only cared about who completed it in the end.
Lin Gui had also had his commissions stolen back in the day, but that was many years ago.
Nowadays, he wasn't short on money, nor did he need to improve himself through the conventional methods of mages.
Therefore, Lin Gui didn't care much about adventurer commissions.
Since she was willing to treat him in exchange, he naturally agreed.
Besides, the reward for that advancement commission...
He had glanced at the commission poster earlier, and it wasn't even worth a single gold coin.
It really was no better than handing out spare change to beggars.
Seeing Lin Gui agree, Ada bounded up from behind Monica.
Old Tom also let out a sigh of relief, pushing off the wall to stand up.
Lily stopped crying, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the magical rat corpses covering the ground.
"Quick, quick, quick! Gather them up!"
Ada called out, ignoring his own injuries as he squatted down and began picking up the magical rat corpses.
Old Tom joined in as well, stuffing the magical rats sliced into halves or even several pieces into bags.
Although most had been cut beyond recognition by the wind blades, magical rats were magical rats; as long as the quantity was sufficient, it was enough.
Ada grinned as he gathered them:
"Enough, enough! This amount is definitely enough!"
Old Tom also nodded with a smile:
"Added to the ones we killed earlier, it definitely exceeds the commission's requirement."
Lily bounded up and down beside them, overjoyed:
"Awesome! Our Thousand Towers group can finally rank up to Silver!"
"From now on, the commissions we take will be paying at least one gold coin to start!"
"One gold coin!!"
"That's a whole gold coin!!"
"My father might not even save that much after working for half a year."
Old Tom chuckled, then looked at Monica, congratulating her:
"Leader, it looks like your wish to go to the City of a Thousand Towers will come true this year!"
Nearby, Lin Gui froze upon hearing those words.
City of a Thousand Towers?
Magic City?
He looked at Monica.
The young mage was keeping her head down, a faint smile on her face, her eyes filled with longing.
Lin Gui's brow creased slightly.
With her strength, she couldn't even cross the wilderness alone, let alone travel to the City of a Thousand Towers.
Along that journey lay quite a few dangerous places to brave.
Though not as outrageously dangerous as the route Lin Gui took through the Infinite Desert,
it was still not a place where a Mid Rank like Monica could set foot.
He couldn't help but ask:
"Are you planning to go to the Magic City?"
Monica looked up at him.
"Yes."
Her voice was soft, but firm.
"The City of a Thousand Towers is every mage's dream."
"I've always wanted to go there for further studies."
"To become a student at a magic academy."
Lily piped up from the side:
"Our leader is amazing! She's the most talented mage in Dragonbone City!"
"A place like the City of a Thousand Towers is perfect for a genius like her!"
Monica's face flushed slightly:
"Don't talk nonsense. I just want to go and learn."
Lin Gui looked at her face, which still held a youthful innocence, and at those eyes filled with yearning.
He had seen that look before.
He had seen it on the faces of many wandering mages.
Whenever they spoke of that holy city of mages,
their eyes were filled with longing and adoration,
along with boundless fantasy toward that legendary holy land of magic.
Lin Gui was silent for two seconds before asking:
"Pardon me for asking, but how do you plan to get there?"
Monica didn't hide anything.
The man had saved her entire adventure group and indirectly helped her complete the advancement commission.
There was nothing to hide.
"The leader of a Gold Rank adventure group recognized my talent."
"He's a Low-tier Transcendent powerhouse."
"He told me that as long as I can elevate the Thousand Towers group to Silver Rank, when he returns in a week, he'll take me to the City of a Thousand Towers."
When Monica said this, her eyes sparkled with light.
Hearing this, Lin Gui subconsciously asked:
"Did you sign a recruitment contract with him, agreeing to join that Gold Rank adventure group after finishing your studies?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Gui knew he had misspoke.
Sure enough.
Monica froze.
The magical rat Ada had just picked up dropped to the ground with a plop.
Old Tom's smile stiffened on his face.
Lily widened her eyes, staring at Monica.
The pipe fell instantly silent.
Only the occasional distant squeaking sounded exceptionally clear in the darkness.
Rate on N.U.
